Thursday, September 4, 2014

RECORD REVIEW: Vehicle Blues “Luke Song” (Lake Paradise Records)

When I
was first introduced to Vehicle Blues via Juniper Tree Songs, my first thought
was how perfect it sounded on cassette.
I also made mention of female vocals, which I had to be corrected on
because they are just higher pitched male vocals, but still, this brought me to
a whole other world of cassettes where Gabe Holcombe (The force behind Vehicle
Blues) even has a cassette based label.

It isn’t
uncommon for the worlds of cassettes and records to intertwine, though I assume
more of the record snobs would say “Eww cassettes” if one of their beloved
bands was to release something on cassette instead of vinyl. For all of the artists out there though
that have been on multiple cassette releases over the years, appearing on vinyl
is kind of a privilege in some ways and when you have a bunch of cassettes you’re
more willing to buy the vinyl (As
opposed to someone who has a bunch of records and thus won’t be as willing to
buy a cassette)

For me,
music transcends the medium a lot of times.
Good music is good no matter what you play it on, while shitty music
remains terrible even if you put it on your most favorite and superior form of
musical playback. So if you know that
Vehicle Blues is good and you like them on cassette, then this is sure to
please you and it will serve as three more excellent songs to add to your
collection.

I’m not
going to say that I would have preferred to see “Luke Song” on cassette over
record simply because I have this small record collection only because it is
what I like to think of as being sort of elite.
I only get records that I really like and mainly also they are based
upon bands that I already have cassettes of at that. So if I’m going to get a record, yes,
Vehicle Blues is a great choice.

Additionally,
the titular track brings out chords that remind me of Sheryl Crow, though I no
longer can hear female vocals within the fuzz laced melodies.